


fading red

by laughtales



Series: Sylvain Week 2020 [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Day 6: In Another Life, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Sylvain Week 2020, mermaid!Sylvain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24581164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughtales/pseuds/laughtales
Summary: Sylvain ends up stranded in a lake by what eventually becomes the Fraldarius summer home. Life is not as boring or unpleasant as he originally thought.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Series: Sylvain Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769569
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84





	fading red

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sylvain Week 2020!
> 
> _Day 6: In Another Life_

Being an ancient majestic sea creature stranded in a tiny freshwater lake is not as bad as one would think.

For starters, it’s quiet and peaceful and the changing scenery through the seasons is beautiful. The best part is the lack of humans casting their nets and dumping their trash into the waters. He doesn’t hate them, unlike some of his brethren. He’s just cautious and displeased with the lack of care they have for the world.

He thinks he might get bored once he’s spent longer here, other issues aside, but for now, the novelty is enough to keep him happy.

Sylvain first sees them on a winter day, the surface of the lake frozen solidly enough to walk on. Two young boys with raven hair shuffling and sliding across the ice. Sylvain watches with amusement as the smaller boy slips and falls on his butt, trying and failing to stifle his whimpers of pain. His brother, at least that’s what Sylvain thinks their relation is, laughs for a bit before helping him up and brushing him off. It’s always difficult to tell with humans how they’re related to each other but the resemblance between them is visible even through the thick layer of ice.

Sylvain swims a few laps with them before they leave. The younger boy looks disappointed, but his brother takes him by the hand and they head back into the trees.

Sylvain wonders if he’ll see them again.

It turns out that he doesn’t have to wait long to find out. At least not to him, anyway. They return once winter has melted away into the gentle greens of spring and then the full bloom of summer.

Sylvain’s heart sinks a little when he sees them with fishing rods and an older man. He briefly considers scaring them off but he’s smarter than that. Wisdom shaped by centuries of bad decisions. It could work. Or it could end poorly as he’s quite literally a fish in a barrel at the moment. Plus they haven’t done anything yet and Sylvain’s optimism about humanity convinces him to give them a chance.

He stays close to the lakebed and watches two tiny hooks sink into the water. Glenn, Sylvain learns his name from the way the younger boy wails his name, helps his brother with his line and soon enough, there are three hooks suspended in the water.

They stay until the sun starts to dim and Sylvain’s earlier apprehensions have dwindled. They make for interesting entertainment. The two boys bickering and wrestling over the most trivial things. And they very diligently clean up after themselves when they’re ready to leave. Glenn and their father each caught a fish and their lines are already gone but the youngest’s hook still floats in the lake.

 _Come along Felix, you can try again tomorrow if the weather’s nice. We have enough for dinner tonight anyways._ The father says, trying to pry the rod out of his small hands.

_But only I haven’t caught anything!_

_Yeah, because you’re still a baby._ Felix sticks his tongue out at Glenn and appears to concentrate harder as though that’s how fishing works.

Sylvain chuckles. He’s not sure what compels him to, but he finds himself catching a fish slightly larger than the one Glenn had caught and very carefully, so he isn’t seen, hooks it onto Felix’s hook. The line instantly goes tight as the fish thrashes and he smiles at the sound of Felix’s delight.

The precious sound of his laughter and triumph when they finally bring it up to land plays like a lullaby that night when Sylvain surfaces and looks wistfully in the direction they left.

They come back a few more times that summer. Sometimes to fish, sometimes to splash in the shallows, sometimes to climb over the rocks and skip stones across the surface. Sylvain starts looking forward to their visits even though they themselves have no idea of the company.

That changes when Felix accidentally drops something shiny into the lake and almost jumps into the lake in an attempt to catch it. He’s only stopped by Glenn’s quick reflexes grabbing at his collar.

_Felix! Leave it, there’s no way we’ll be able to find it._

_But mom gave it to me!_

_I know Felix and I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do._

Sylvain decides in that moment that he hates the sound of Felix crying. He wails, loud and miserable, still sniffling when Glenn hugs him and carries him home.

It takes him a while to find what Felix had dropped, the item so small and delicate among the weeds and mud. He picks it up and swims to the surface to hold it up the sun. It’s a… Sylvain’s actually not sure what it is. It’s not jewelry as far as he can tell. If anything, it looks more like a weapon. A tiny little sword-like thing with some weird clasp on the back.

Sylvain places it carefully on the rock Felix had dropped it from, and swims to the other end of the lake to find a lily blossom too, putting it beside the sword thing. Humans like that sort of thing right?

Felix actually comes back later that day, just as the sky is turning pretty colors, all by himself. There’s a determined hop in his steps as he climbs over the rocks. Sylvain suspects he came to try to search the bottom of the lake by himself despite Glenn telling him to let it go. He reaches the rock and stops, staring at his thing and the lily and picks them up disbelievingly.

 _Thank you._ Felix says to the lake, even though he has no idea who or what he’s thanking. Except that he takes the flower and gently lowers it back into the water. _I like the flower too but they look prettier in the water._

Sylvain swims close enough to ripple the water’s surface and show him a flash of red. He hears Felix’s surprised and delighted gasp and smiles before returning to the depths.

He half expects Felix to tell Glenn and his father about the weird fish living in the lake. For hoards of humans to come and make a spectacle of him but he’s surprised when Felix shows up at the lake again the next day all alone.

Felix settles himself on the rock closest to the center of the lake that he can reach and starts talking. It’s a lot of nonsense. About him and his family’s summer home and what he’s been up to. It’s a little silly considering Felix has no proof that anyone’s listening but Felix smiles happily, swinging his feet and Sylvain swims in lazy laps around his rock.

He does feel a little slighted when Felix calls him the _pretty fish that lives in the lake_ though and disturbs the water more than he means to when he hears it.

It only spurns Felix on more. 

He comes back a few more times that summer, straining to catch a glimpse of Sylvain aside from the pretty shells or scales he leaves for him and the red flashes of his tail.

Sylvain can tell that summer is ending and because Felix glumly tells him one day that they’re leaving tomorrow. He looks sad that he still hasn’t met his self-perceived new friend so Sylvain swims by and splashes him a little. Felix shrieks with joy.

_Can I come see you next year too?_

Sylvain waves his tail fin above the water in reply and Felix shines like the sun.

Felix comes back the next year and spends a lot of the time at the lake. Glenn isn’t there that summer at all and according to Felix, it’s because he’s gone away for school.

Sylvain keeps him extra company that summer. It’s also when they finally meet. Felix is sprawled out on a rock talking about how he misses having someone to talk to and almost rolls off in shock when Sylvain surfaces, leaning against a rock. His scales glisten and shine in the sun.

_A mermaid!_

Sylvain makes an offended face and curtly replies that he is not a mermaid and then Felix does fall in the lake. Sylvain fishes him out and lifts him onto the closest rock while Felix catches his breath and then openly stares at him. _Mermaids can talk?_

 _I am not a mermaid!_ Sylvain huffs and swishes his tail indignantly.

Felix looks very much like he doesn’t believe him. Sylvain waits for fear and apprehension to filter into Felix’s eyes but instead there are practically stars in them as he looks over Sylvain in wonder.

_You aren’t scared of me?_

_Why would I be scared of you?_ Felix looks at him with such genuine confusion it’s almost blinding.

And that’s how their actual secret friendship starts.

Sylvain watches Felix grow up into a prickly teenager and chuckles when he complains about how overbearing Glenn is and how annoying his father is. Sylvain quips back with his own flirtatious remarks and watches Felix bristle.

_I think I liked you better when I thought you were just a pretty fish._

Sylvain splashes him in good fun because he knows Felix doesn’t mean that. 

Two more summers pass when Felix tells him that he’s leaving for college.

 _I won’t be able to come here for a while after this summer._ Felix says uncharacteristically glumly, running his fingertips through the water and watching the ripples bloom.

_Aww, Felix, are you saying you’ll miss my company?_

_No! I… What about you? You complain every summer about how lonely you were while I was gone._

Sylvain swishes his tail in the water. _Hm? Lonely? Sure I guess, but I’ve been on my own longer than you can imagine so I’ll get used to it again._ Sylvain smiles at Felix. _Besides, it’s not forever. You’ll come back eventually right? A few years is nothing for my kind._

Felix looks strangely sad when he says that and Sylvain doesn’t understand why. It’s just how it is. If anything, this little blip of friendship is what’s abnormal. Especially with a human.

_That reminds me, do you change color or something as you get older? You’re less red and more splotchy than I remember you being._

Felix looks like he's expecting Sylvain to be offended as he looks down at himself. _Hm? Oh, yeah, I probably am. But it’s not because I’m getting old._ The vibrant red of his tail has dulled over the years and pale patches becoming more and more obvious. He’s not too particular about his appearance but it is a little concerning that the fading is already visible.

_What? Then why?_

_Well, I’m supposed to live in the ocean, not a freshwater lake._

Felix looks horrified, eyes wide as saucers. Deciding further explanation is unnecessary, Sylvain refrains from explaining how he’s basically been poisoning himself all these years. Not like he had any other say but it’s probably not the most reassuring thing to hear.

_Why are you here?_

_Flood I think? And no way to get back to the ocean._ That much is the truth, but he also hasn’t tried very hard to figure out a way back. He’s grown fond of the lake and the sights and his company over the years.

 _Do you… want to go back? Do you miss the ocean?_ Felix asks quickly in rapid succession. _Is living here going to kill you eventually?_

That’s a lot of questions that Sylvain has no happy answers for so he says nothing at all. Felix takes his silence for what it is and reaches out to pet his hair. It’s a weird thing Felix does when he’s upset and Sylvain leans into the touch to reassure him. He knows it helps when Felix starts running his fingers through the red locks.

There’s a long silence and Sylvain can practically hear the gears turning in his head. He’s about to tell Felix not to worry or think too much about it. Regardless of the truth, Sylvain will still far outlive Felix.

 _I’ll find a way._ Felix says suddenly, looking right into his eyes. _Before this summer ends, we’ll figure out a way to get you home._

Surprise floods him and the calm swishing he was doing with his tail stops. He wants to tell Felix that it’s really okay. That this place has been more of a home to him these short two decades than the hundreds he spent in the ocean but Felix looks at him so seriously and so earnestly that he can’t bring himself to.

_Okay. But only if you promise to come visit me there too._


End file.
